Civic Life

2 Mar 2011 – 20 Mar 2011

Civic Life is an assembly of intriguing and highly distinctive short films from British directors Christine Molloy and Joe Lawlor. Since 2003, the pair have worked on a series of short films made in negotiation with local residents and community groups and exploring the relationship these communities have to their immediate environments. This special presentation finds the eight films edited together without titles or credits; the resulting uncertainty, as to when one films ends and another begins, serves to draw out and intensify the overlapping themes of identity and place, belonging, hope, loss, and new beginnings.

DaydreamDaydream is a highly poetic and meditative work tracing the connection between a city during a moment of great change and how this moment can be reflected in the emotional world of its citizens as they contemplate their lives at a particularly vulnerable juncture, caught between past and future, amidst a sea of transformation.

Who Killed Brown OwlIt is a sunny afternoon in an enchanted corner of England. Strains of elegiac classical music fade up on the soundtrack, as a camera begins to gently move along a riverbank gradually revealing an elaborate tableau. Burnt sunbathers, beer-drinking kids, an abandoned baby, a rabbit in a boat, a bicycle accident - in Who Killed Brown Owl, the perfect English arcadia gives way to varying kinds of misfortune, disruption and violence. With more than a passing reference to the 'narrative' paintings by masters such as Bruegel, this spectacular single take 9-minute short is about a lazy Sunday afternoon that goes horribly wrong. Filmed over the course of one afternoon, Who Killed Brown Owl features a volunteer cast of almost 100 residents of the London Borough of Enfield.

TwilightTwilight is the fourth film in the Civic Life series in which desperate optimists look into the hopes and fears of the disparate communities upon which they turn their lens. Shot on a boat on the Tyne against the spectacular backdrop of the seven Tyne Bridges, Twilight is an intimate exploration of the ebb and flow of life involving 5 residents from Tyneside.

Town HallTown Hall was filmed on the 29 May 2005 in the stunning surrounds of the West Bromwich Town Hall with the involvement of over 200 local residents. In Town Hall the camera takes a restless, sweeping point of view on the issues that matter to the assembled local residents.

Leisure CentreLeisure Centre was filmed in September 2005 in the new, only partly opened, leisure centre situated on Main Street, Ballymun and it follows a young man through the rooms and down the corridors of the building where he works as he struggles to come to terms with his new role as a father. It is his partner, the mother of his child, who helps him to open his eyes and imagine a better future for him and his young family.

JoyJoy is a story about a 17-year-old girl, Joy, who has gone missing. The police stage a reconstruction of Joy's last known movements in a local park. But by the time the reconstruction is ended it is clear that what we are watching is more than a reconstruction of a teenager's last movements but rather a meditation on the fragility of youth.

Moore StreetMoore Street is a single tracking shot filmed on Dublin's famous Moore Street with members of the Dublin-based African production company, Arambe. In the film, which is a continuation of our fascination with changing urban terrains, we follow the thoughts of a young African woman in Ireland as she considers her future, and her unfolding sense of identity as she walks along the city street at night. Moore Street documents an iconic street in Dublin at an interval in its official re-development, where already the everyday hopes and dreams of new communities are reshaping the city as home.

Tiong BahruFollowing three people of different ages over the course of one afternoon as they reach a crucial decision in their lives, Tiong Bahru is a lyrical and thoughtful short film that explores ideas of belonging, place and family. Filmed on beautiful 35mm cinemascope in the hawker centre and market of the heritage estate of Tiong Bahru in Singapore, Tiong Bahru features a cast of over 150 volunteers from Singapore.